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Third Tiberium War
The dust has barely settled on the Third Tiberium War, the most recent conflict between GDI, the Brotherhood of Nod and for the first time an extraterrestrial race, the Scrin. The Prologue Prior to the events of 2047, GDI had shut down over 60% of their military bases worldwide in order to cut costs and enable greater focus on the effort to curb Tiberium. The Brotherhood of Nod was in seeming disarray following the apparent death of their leader, Kane, and had been quiet for many years. GDI, by this time acting essentially as a world government, had control of all the uncontaminated Blue Zones and many of the contaminated but habitable Yellow Zones, in which the majority of the world's population resided. Nod retained some influence in the Yellow Zones, with propaganda activity still taking place in spite of Kane's disappearance. Neither side controlled the Red Zones, areas where the surface had been so badly scarred by Tiberium mutation that it was unrecognizable as Earth and completely uninhabitable. While individual nation states still existed, they were esentially of no importance, GDI having consolidated its power. With Nod's power diminishing GDI leaders became complacent, phasing out many of the organisation's older and more experimental forms of military equipment during the decade following the Second Tiberium War (including walkers, distruptors, hovering vehicles, and the Firestorm shields). GDI now considered Tiberium to be a higher priority than the Brotherhood. However, this temporary period of peace was soon revealed to be an illusion. The War Begins The Brotherhood Strikes Back In 2047, GDI detected renewed activity from the Brotherhood, with new large bases emerging in Yellow Zones (notably in North Carolina) and token suicide bomber attacks on GDI installations. However, GDI does not act to curb the renewed Brotherhood quickly enough, and soon a daring Nod Commander has launched a successful attack on the Goddard Space Center, home of GDI's A-SAT missile defense systems on the Eastern seaboard. Shortly thereafter the Philadelphia space station, home of GDI's central command, is destroyed by a Nod nuclear missile. Kane immediately hijacks the international news media, announcing that the Third Tiberium War has begun. With the destruction of the Philadelphia Nod commences co-ordinated attacks inside Blue Zones worldwide. Initial Stages During their assaults against the Blue Zones, Nod forces successfully seize the White House and Langley Air Force base, and shortly afterward take control of the port at Hampton Roads. With GDI's air power and supply capability crippled, GDI commanders begin to rally their demoralized forces to fight against the Brotherhood of Nod and the returned Kane. GDI's first priority is to defend and repair the Pentagon, which is the only facility on Earth that can coordinate and communicate with the rest of the GDI forces around the globe. The GDI garrison in Washington successfully defends the Pentagon, and move to push Nod out of the Washington Blue Zone. They quickly retake the Langley Air Force Base and Hampton Roads, restoring GDI air power and cutting off additional Nod reinforcements. With the Nod forces crippled and confused, the GDI garrison strikes and pushes Nod out of Washington, retaking the White House in the process. Meanwhile, Michael McNeil and his 22nd Infantry Division spearheaded the rescue of Doctor Takeda and recovery of GDI's San Diego Naval base. Thanks to GDI's success in Washington, GDI forces around the world begin to simultaneously push Nod out of the Blue Zones, giving them time to reorganize and lick their wounds. Treasurer Redmond Boyle, now the highest ranking GDI official, inherits the post of Director of GDI. He promises the public a swift and absolute victory over Nod, though GDI General Jack Granger is more skeptical of his claims. Acting on intelligence gained from Nod prisoners, Granger sends a strike force to Casabad, Africa to investigate the possiblity of Nod developing weapons of mass destruction. After capturing the Nod facility there, it is revealed that Kane is in fact developing a Liquid Tiberium Bomb, which can react with normal Tiberium to create a massive explosion of unrivaled scale. To prevent the weapon from leaving Africa, GDI forces swiftly destroy Nod's port facilities at Alexandria. Also, in an act of vengeance, the GDI forces attack a Nod nuclear missile silo in Cairo, as it was responsible for the destruction of the Philadelphia. The Liquid Tiberium Question The GDI Commander's operations in Egypt have destroyed Nod's nuclear capabilities and also a secret lab where Kane was developing a liquid Tiberium device. The Nod Commander goes to the Amazon Desert, where a backup lab has finished the device. He defeats a GDI attempt to destroy the lab and destroys the attacking forces. The Nod Commander then successfully smuggles the device out of South America by seizing airfields and destroying a cordon of GDI artillery defenses as well as a GDI aircraft carrier keeping Vertigo bombing runs from occuring. The air transport carrying the liquid Tiberium device is shot down by GDI forces near the Nod Temple in Sarajevo, but the device survives intact. However, the weapon is now in the hands of GDI and is under heavy guard. The Nod Commander manages to retrieve the device and escorts it to the Temple Prime in Sarajevo which is besieged by GDI forces. Kane orders the Nod Commander to protect the Temple long enough for him to assemble the weapon. The Nod Commander holds the line and breaks the siege long enough for the device to be completed. After the Nod commander destroys the GDI they are attacked by traitor Nod forces which Ajay, Nod's military planning expert, assumes have been sent by Kilian Qatar, Kane's second in command. Kane sets up the device while the Nod Commander is then transferred to aid Kilian's Nod forces in Australia. With Nod apparently on the run and deprived of their superweapons, GDI Director Boyle orders an attack on the heavily defended Temple Prime in Sarajevo, much to Granger's protests. Using a small, beseiged foward base in Croatia, GDI forces manage to secure a foothold in their impending assault on Sarajevo. In preparation for the attack, a small GDI task force is sent to Albania, where they destroy a major Nod supply depot. Deprived of reinforcements, Sarajevo is left vulnerable to attack. After vicious fighting, GDI forces manage to penetrate Temple Prime's defenses and surround the Temple itself, forcing Kane and his followers into hiding. Too impatient for a seige, Boyle forces Granger and the GDI Commander to fire the Ion Cannon on Temple Prime. Unfortunately, the blast ignites a massive resevoir of liquid Tiberium under the Temple, causing a massive explosion that sends lethal Tiberium fallout all over Eastern Europe. Kane and his followers are presumed dead, but at the cost of millions of innocent lives. The Scrin GDI Reaction However, GDI does not enjoy their victory for long. Shortly after the explosion, several unidentified alien ships begin to approach Earth. Without consulting Granger, Boyle hastily activates every Ion Cannon over the southern hemisphere, and uses them to fire on the invaders. Instead of being destroyed, the ships merely split into smaller pieces and begin to make landfall. Much like the beginning of the war, Blue Zones all over the world are simultaneously attacked by the alien invaders who quickly overrun the surprised GDI forces. Granger realizes that these aliens are the Scrin, which were prophesized in the Tacitus to invade Earth. He sends an elite GDI task force to Germany to escort a group of scientists out of Munich. These scientists have been studying the Scrin and their survival is vital. The scientists are safely escorted out of the devastated city. Meanwhile, scattered GDI forces in other parts of Germany begin to regroup and counterattack, forcing the Scrin out of Stuttgart and later all of Germany. Nod Reaction Meanwhile, following the Nod Commander's arrival in Australia, Killian informs the Brotherhood that the Temple in Sarajevo was destroyed by a GDI Ion Cannon attack with enormous casualties, and that Kane is presumed dead. Killian sets up her HQ at Uluru in the Australian Outback as Kane's successor. Her first mission has the Nod Commander capture a GDI convoy carrying part of the GDI nuclear arsenal in Australia, restoring Nod's nuclear capability which had earlier been destroyed by the GDI Commander. The Scrin make planetfall during the convoy attack and begin attacking everyone. Killian forms a temporary ceasefire and alliance with GDI, much to Ajay's protest. The Nod Commander destroys critical Scrin structures while the Scrin attack GDI forces in Sydney, and takes the opportunity to steal GDI nuclear launch codes for the warheads Nod has captured. The GDI forces look to repel the Scrin but a new directive from a secret source sends the Nod Commander to destroy the local ion cannon control station. Without the protection of the ion cannons, the GDI forces are forced to fall back and abandon Sydney. During the evacuation, Killian tells the Nod Commander to aid the GDI civilian evacuation, but then Kane returns and denounces Killian as a traitor. The Nod forces turn on GDI with a nuclear strike and GDI forces in Sydney are wiped out. The Nod Commander, a Kane loyalist, then proceeds to seize Killian's HQ at Uluru, defeating a GDI attempt to capitalize on the Nod infighting. Kane then "deals" with Killian, and reveals that he had wanted GDI to use the ion cannon on the Sarajevo Temple as it was the only weapon powerful enough to trigger his liquid tiberium explosive. Kane reveals he had known the Scrin would be attracted by a sufficiently powerful liquid tiberium explosion and that the purpose of the device was not to be used against GDI but to create such a blast to attract the Scrin to Earth. The Italian Job After the initial invasion, GDI General Granger realizes that the attack on the Blue Zones was merely a diversion to lead GDI away from the Scrin's true objective, the construction of numerous vast, mysterious towers (Thresholds). Granger sends a GDI strike force to Rome, the original source of Tiberium, to destroy one such tower. The GDI forces succeed in destroying the tower's defenses, allowing GDI to destroy the tower via Ion Cannon. As GDI forces begin destroying the rest of the towers worldwide, the GDI force in Rome is sent to destroy the Scrin's Relay Node, which is transmitting Tiberium radiation to every other Scrin unit on Earth. Unfortunately, Nod forces are also present and must be dealt with. Kane sends the Nod Commander to the Italian Red Zone to protect a lab against the Scrin. The lab is working on the catalyst missile which was developed in anticipation of having to deal with the Scrin. The Nod Commander then causes chaos between fighting Scrin and GDI forces, and slows the GDI's counterattack against the Scrin long enough for Nod forces to seize a Scrin base and gain access codes to one of the towers the Scrin are attempting to build around the world. GDI forces are more successful elsewhere around the world, inspired by the example of the GDI Commander, and are destroying the Scrin towers before they can be completed and become impervious to attack. The Nod Commander goes to one of the few remaining towers that is closest to completion in central Italy, defeats the GDI assault on the tower, and takes the completed Scrin tower for the Brotherhood's 'Ascension' to the stars. Shortly after, the GDI Commander is successful in destroying the Scrin Relay Node, ending the Scrin's invasion. The Aftermath With the Scrin attack halted and Kane having disappeared yet again, a lull settles over the world. However, following past events GDI InOps are wary to pronounce Kane dead. Kane's last movements were linked with the last remaining Scrin tower in Italy, which still stands, impervious to human attack. The Scrin, too, should perhaps not be presumed utterly defeated, as the Foreman (Scrin Commander) managed to facilitate a retreat before one of the Scrin towers got destroyed. Recent work by GDI operatives has revealed that the Scrin's devastating attack on Earth may not have even been an invasion attempt, but rather a mistaken effort to 'harvest' a deserted planet. If this is true, mankind may not have seen the last of the Scrin. GDI leaders can only assure the public that Earth will not fall in the face of an alien onslaught. GDI's rebuilding efforts since the Second War have been almost entirely reversed; Eastern Europe was covered with Tiberium fallout after the destruction of Temple Prime, and the attacks by Nod and Scrin forces have once again spread Tiberium across the Blue Zones. For now, the future remains uncertain.